Stockbroker pleads guilty in Kline insider trading case
Star Tribune
Published 08/30/01
Wayzata stockbroker Bruce Le Duc on Wednesday pleaded
guilty in U.S. District Court and agreed to pay an $80,000
criminal fine and face up to 10 years in prison for aiding and
abetting Twin Cities investor George Kline in violation of
securities laws.
Le Duc is the final defendant to enter a guilty plea for his role
in the case, which was brought in March and has been
described as the biggest tax and stock fraud investigation in
state history.
Le Duc, 50, of Minnetonka, admitted in court that, at Kline's
direction, he engaged in securities transactions involving the
stock of companies for which Kline was a director and had
access to inside, nonpublic information.
In particular, Le Duc admitted he aided and abetted Kline in
violation of securities law with the purchase and sale of 4,000
shares of CyberOptics Corp. stock in September 1997 and with
the October 1997 short sales of 10,100 shares of Applied
Biometrics Inc. stock.
Chief Judge James Rosenbaum will determine LeDuc's
sentence based on federal guidelines. A sentencing date isn't
expected to be set for at least three months.
-- Terry Fiedler
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